When Bryan Doxford talks about lending, he’s not just thinking about credit scores and spreadsheets. He’s thinking about grit. About vision. About character.

As President and Managing Director of Lending at the Grow America Fund, Bryan works with small businesses often overlooked by traditional banks. Which he loves, because of the belief he places in people, and the standard he holds them to.

“Are they humble and hungry?”

That’s Bryan’s question. Are they teachable? Are they willing to work through hard days? It’s a character test. And he’s found that the most successful entrepreneurs aren’t always the ones with the best pitch deck.

Everything speaks

Bryan puts it simply: “Everything speaks.”

In lending and in leadership, how you treat people matters. Your kindness. Your tone. Your willingness to engage. That’s part of the evaluation whether you realize it or not.

He’s built a team culture around that same idea. Every week, his leadership team shares “one thing” they’re working on. It’s small, intentional accountability, designed not just to get things done but to build muscle memory of self-awareness and ownership.

Leadership without a title

One of Bryan’s strongest beliefs is that character is action.

In a city that can pull you in a hundred directions, he sees his daughters' character show up in quiet acts of service: donating blankets, buying shoes, noticing the needs around them. “Character is action,” he says. “And they act.”

Leaders invite

This might be Bryan’s greatest insight. The best leaders invite, not command.

They invite people to grow. To own. To contribute. To rise. “When I think about the people in my life who had the biggest influence,” he says, “it was because they invited me. They saw potential and they extended a hand.”

That’s how character moves. It doesn’t shout, it just quietly and unmistakably leads.

✨

🎧 Listen to the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

🔗 Learn more about The Character Effect at kanny.com.

‍